Tin Machine divided Bowie’s fan base. The polarized reviews didn’t bother me—every band I was in in Boston had the same effect on people. I always liked the fact that you could piss people off by just making the music you wanted to make. I thought that was a good thing. That kind of stuff comes up to this day.

http://www.ProTonePedals.comOn stage nightly with The Cure, Reeves Gabrels needs shimmery cleans, biting break up, and distorted tones in full bloom to bring the 40 year catalog of the Cure to life. Bottom line- The Distortion Engine is no 1-trick-pony. We aimed at covering a wide spectrum of tones that span decades- from classic blues break up, to the grit of the ‘70s glam-rock anthems to flat-out modern metal tones.

Now that he's an acclaimed guitarist, known for his work with artists such as David Bowie and as a member of The Cure, Gabrels doesn't have to scrape his change together for much of anything. But he still frequents used shops when searching for little-known music treasures—CDs, in particular. "People are dumping their CDs because they're all going back to vinyl," he says. "Funnily enough, I'm a big believer in the CD format, so I buy them up like mad. I have about 10,000 CDs now, and it's probably grown by 500 copies in the last year."

Below, Gabrels runs down his picks for "five great guitar albums you probably don't know," most of which he bought for next to nothing during his salad days. "These are really great guitar records, but they're also great music records. You don't have to be a guitar player to like them, although it might help a little."

If you look at my time with him, our shows were kind of light on the hits. With Tin Machine, we didn’t play any of his solo songs. With the Outside and Earthling tours, we played some, but he let me rearrange them. On those tours, we did some odd things like [Laurie Anderson’s] “O Superman” because Gail [Ann Dorsey, bassist] could carry the Laurie Anderson vocal and we did “Under Pressure” because she could carry the Freddie Mercury vocal. “Under Pressure” would get people excited, and so did our version of “The Man Who Sold the World.”...Being David’s musical director and his friend, I was all about taking chances. That’s to me, what rock music is about. I think some of the folks in the business office… I was not their favorite person. We didn’t lose money, but we didn’t make as much money as they wanted us to. We did uncompromising stuff. I grew up thinking of David as someone who did what he wanted and didn’t chase the tail of something else.

In August of ’96, the tour ended, and we were going to take a couple of months off, but we ended up only taking two weeks off. I was writing stuff on my computer, and some of those songs became the songs from the Earthling album. But around that time we also did his 50th birthday show. My job was to sit down with all the guests and make sure they knew the songs. That was when I met Robert Smith [of the Cure, the band Gabrels now plays in].

We went out for all of 1997 for the Earthling tour, and that was the best tour I ever did with him. Zack [Alford, drums], Mike [Garson, piano] Gail [Ann Dorsey, bass] – we feared no band at that point.

...I was David’s friend, and his guitar player, musical director, co-producer, but I was also a fan. I felt like I was protecting his “thing.” I wanted to make sure he stayed cool and stayed connected. He was a voracious chaser of new things. ...

I can’t explain how saddened I am by his passing. But – he really pulled it off, he turned his whole career into art by doing that record as his final statement. To me, it’s the real capper to a blazing career.

July 14-15 Nashville TN NAMM Showcase July 18 Toledo OH A Day at Reverend Guitars July 20 New York NY TBA July 21 Marlboro NY The Falcon July 22 Troy NY The Hangar July 25 New Haven CT Cafe Nine July 28 Louisville KY Time + Space July 29 Lexington KY The Green Lantern July 30 Nashville TN TBA

Live For Live Music: As a prolific musician with credits spanning genres from metal and hip-hop to what you’re best known for in your time with Bowie and The Cure, what can we expect from your upcoming show at Garcia’s?

Reeves Gabrels: You will hear an update of the rock-power-trio format that stretches from the Johnny Burnette Trio to Jimi Hendrix and Cream to Rush and The Police to Hüsker Dü and Dinosaur Jr. Reeves Gabrels & His Imaginary Friends play rock songs with vocals, guitar, bass and drums that are designed to grow and change from night to night. Our sets include music that I have written for and with my Imaginary Friends, along with one or two unusual blues or old-school R&B covers that we’ve radically rearranged to suit our power trio format. There is a strong element of improvisation in our playing that makes us sound like us and no one else.

An odd thing that happened when I stopped working with David Bowie was a reviewer wrote of my second solo album—Ulysses (Della Notte) (2000)—that he could hear everything I stole from Bowie. The writer then listed Tin Machine songs, such as “Bus Stop” and “I Can’t Read”, both songs I co-wrote, and mentioned albums like Earthling and Hours, albums I co-produced with songs I co-wrote. I find that more amusing now than I did at the time.

So, listeners will hear trace elements of music they like by artists I have worked with through the years without realizing that I was involved at a writing level and production level with those artists. What many people discover is that some of my music was in their heads all along.